Job 21:16-18

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 21:16 tn Heb “is not in their hand.”sn The implication of this statement is that their well-being is from God, which is the problem Job is raising in the chapter. A number of commentators make it a question, interpreting it to mean that the wicked enjoy prosperity as if it is their right. Some emend the text to say “his hands”—Gordis reads it, “Indeed, our prosperity is not in his hands.”
2. Job 21:16 sn Even though their life seems so good in contrast to his own plight, Job cannot and will not embrace their principles—“far be from me their counsel.”
3. Job 21:17 tn The interrogative “How often” occurs only with the first colon; it is supplied for smoother reading in the next two.
4. Job 21:17 tn The pronominal suffix is objective; it re-enforces the object of the preposition, “upon them.” The verb in the clause is בּוֹא (boʾ) followed by עַל (ʿal), “come upon [or against],” may be interpreted as meaning attack or strike.
5. Job 21:17 tn חֲבָלִים (khavalim) can mean “ropes” or “cords,” but that would not go with the verb “apportion” in this line. The meaning of “pangs (as in “birth-pangs”) seems to fit best here. The wider meaning would be “physical agony.”
6. Job 21:17 tn The phrase “to them” is understood and thus is supplied in the translation for clarification.
7. Job 21:18 tn To retain the sense that the wicked do not suffer as others, this verse must either be taken as a question or a continuation of the question in v. 17.
8. Job 21:18 tn The verb used actually means “rob.” It is appropriate to the image of a whirlwind suddenly taking away the wisp of straw.